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This is not about Chile and it’s not really about New York, and maybe you will forgive me or maybe you will aggressively click elsewhere because you prefer to gaze at your own navel than watch me pontificate on my own.

I recently made a trip to the states and one afternoon, my sister’s kids and I went to a playground made of brightly colored plastic so they could run up and down things and slide and whatnot.

My niece is nine, already a señorita and a little unimpressed by slides and the like, so while she deigned to go down the slide a couple of times with her brother, she later peeled off to show off her superior (and long-legged) climbing skills and ambled off to redo her hair.

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Which gave someone an idea.

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And I doubted, I did, as he took one step forwards and two steps back, and then two steps forward, and one step back.

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And he stepped some more. Check out how tightly his left hand is gripping the side of the slide.

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Looking a little awkward here, but it looks like he’s going to make it.

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A little lip biting and shuffling and determination pay off, and the moppet (I’m not allowed to call him that any more) surprises everyone, especially himself.

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And when I saw the pictures, I thought, that’s probably how we should all live our lives. With grit, determination, and last but not least, joy for when it all pays off. And don’t forget the underbite.

Though maybe with a little less blurriness.